Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce

May 09, 2025
Award Of $800K Under Holdback Agreement Upheld By 3rd Circuit In IP Contract Row

PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 8 affirmed a lower court’s judgment that an employee who sold his software company to a company that manufactures electronic voltage instruments is entitled to an award of $800,000 pursuant to a holdback agreement regarding obtaining his revenue goals, finding that the lower court did not err in its determination that the employee’s interpretation of the agreement is “reasonable.”
May 09, 2025
Tesla Owners’ Automatic Software Updates Case Dismissed After Settlement

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California dismissed with prejudice a putative class lawsuit accusing Tesla Inc. of rolling out automatic software updates that “deplete the battery and reduce the driving range of the vehicles by at least 20%” after the named parties stated that they reached a settlement agreement as to the named plaintiffs’ individual claims.
May 08, 2025
Denial Of FTC’s Injunction Bid In Activision Acquisition Upheld By 9th Circuit

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s ruling denying a motion by the Federal Trade Commission seeking preliminary injunctive relief against the acquisition of the video game developer Activision Blizzard Inc. by Microsoft Corp., finding that the lower court correctly held that the FTC did not show the likelihood of success on the merits of its claim made pursuant to the Clayton Act.
May 07, 2025
Jury Awards Over $167M In Punitive Damages In Meta Verdict Against Spyware Firm

OAKLAND, Calif. — A California federal jury on May 6 issued a verdict finding that an Israeli-based manufacturer of spyware violated a California computer fraud law and should pay punitive damages of $167,254,000 and compensatory damages of $444,719 to plaintiffs WhatsApp LLC and Meta Platforms Inc.
May 07, 2025
8th Circuit Won’t Reverse Noninfringement Finding In Website Building Suit

ST. LOUIS — An Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the findings of a Missouri federal judge and a federal jury in a sprawling dispute over copyrighted code between two companies owned by members of the same family, along with multiple veterinary companies whose websites were built by a defendant printing company; the panel agreed with the judge’s decision to find in favor of the defendants on copyright infringement claims.
May 06, 2025
Federal Circuit: Judge Right To Find Geolocation Patent Claims Too Abstract

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said in a per curiam opinion that it saw no error in a Virginia federal judge’s finding that multiple asserted claims in a mobile device location data patent claimed patent ineligible subject matter for focusing only on abstract ideas.
May 06, 2025
Judge Dismisses Child Abuse Victim’s Putative Class Suit Over ICloud File-Sharing

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge dismissed putative class claims against Apple Inc. for violating federal sex trafficking laws and child pornography laws brought against it by a 9-year-old victim relating to the alleged dissemination of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on Apple’s iCloud service but granted the plaintiff leave to amend her claims for violation of consumer protection laws, including California’s unfair competition law (UCL).
May 06, 2025
Judge Rules On Dismissal Motions In Coverage Suit Over Unlawful Recording Claims

SAN DIEGO — A federal judge in California granted in part and denied in part defendant insurers’ motions to dismiss a cyber liability insurer’s lawsuit seeking equitable contribution and indemnification for an underlying lawsuit alleging their mutual insured intentionally failed to disclose that hidden cameras were installed in operating rooms and recorded patient procedures in an effort to investigate drug theft.
May 06, 2025
Class Suit Filed Against Google, LinkedIn Over Marketplace ‘Interceptions’

OAKLAND, Calif. — A California resident filed a putative class complaint against LinkedIn Corp. and Google LLC alleging violations of California and federal privacy laws when LinkedIn and Google purportedly intercepted communications without consent when she and other class members were completing health information forms on the Covered California website, California’s health insurance marketplace.
May 05, 2025
High Court Won’t Hear Challenge to Federal Circuit Vacating $13.2M Patent Verdict

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court in a May 5 order list rejected a software company’s petition for a writ of certiorari, refusing to hear arguments on whether the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was wrong to vacate a jury’s verdict of $13.2 million in damages.
May 05, 2025
Judge OKs $20M Settlement, $5M Attorney Fees In Apple Watch Swelling Case

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted final approval to a $20 million settlement between Apple Inc. and plaintiffs who sought damages due to a battery swelling defect with early-model Apple Watches that in some cases caused watch screens to detach or shatter and also granted the plaintiffs’ motion for $5 million in attorney fees and nearly a half-million dollars in litigation expenses.
May 05, 2025
Supreme Court Won’t Hear Challenge To Patent Holder’s Failed Recusal Bid

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court denied a patent owner’s petition for a writ of certiorari on May 5, declining to hear arguments from the company that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals wrongly upheld a federal judge’s denial of a patent owner’s recusal motion in an infringement dispute with Fitbit LLC and multiple other entities; the Federal Circuit previously suggested that the recusal motion could have been “strategic.”
May 02, 2025
Texas House Passes Bill Criminalizing Altered Media On Political Advertising

AUSTIN, Texas — In a vote of 102-40, the Texas House of Representatives passed a bill introduced by Rep. Dade Phelan, a former speaker of the House, making it a criminal offense to distribute political advertising that includes images, video or audio recordings that have been digitally altered using artificial intelligence (AI) unless the advertising includes a disclosure that the images, audio or video recordings did not occur in reality.
May 02, 2025
Developer Denies Promising Gamers ‘Unfettered Ownership’ Of Online Racing Game

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A video game developer filed a motion in California federal court to dismiss a putative class action lawsuit brought against it by gamers who say the developer violated California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by shutting down servers for an online racing game they paid for, arguing that it never concealed from gamers that they were paying for “a limited license to access the game.”
May 01, 2025
Enforcing Injunction In Epic Antitrust Suit, Judge Says Apple ‘Lied Under Oath’

OAKLAND, Calif. — Stating that “Apple willfully chose not to comply with this Court’s Injunction” in an antitrust suit filed by Epic Games Inc. against Apple Inc., a California federal judge on April 30 granted a motion filed by Epic to hold Apple in civil contempt and enforce a 2021 court-ordered injunction requiring Apple to permit app developers to inform users of methods of making in-app purchases (IAPs) outside of the company’s App Store, finding also that an Apple executive when testifying “outright lied under oath” regarding Apple’s efforts to choose “the most anticompetitive option.”
April 29, 2025
3rd Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Online Gambler’s Fraud Suit Against BetMGM

PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 28 affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of an online gambler’s New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act (CFA) and negligence suit against BetMGM LLC and other online gaming owners and operators over their alleged breach of duty of care owed to him, finding that because the gambler failed to assert claims for CFA and negligence, the complaint was correctly dismissed.
April 29, 2025
Wedding Planning Website Accused Of Selling Vendors Deceptive ‘Leads’

LOS ANGELES — A group of vendors that provide wedding-related services on April 28 filed a putative class complaint in California federal court against the operator of wedding planning website “The Knot,” accusing it of fraudulent inducement and violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) for deceiving them into paying thousands of dollars for access to its “lead-generating” service, which either did not produce leads or generated mostly fake leads.
April 29, 2025
WhatsApp, Meta File Jury Instructions In Computer Fraud Suit Against Spyware Firm

OAKLAND, Calif. — One day before the start of a jury trial, plaintiffs WhatsApp LLC and Meta Platforms Inc. and defendants NSI Group Technologies Limited and Q Cyber Technologies Limited filed their proposed jury instructions in a California federal court in a dispute over alleged computer fraud, with each side submitting their own instructions on the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA).
April 24, 2025
4th Circuit Won’t Rehear Ruling Affirming Injunction In Electronic Records Dispute

RICHMOND, Va. — Noting that “[n]o judge requested a poll” on a petition for rehearing en banc, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 23 denied rehearing and rehearing en banc of its ruling affirming a lower court order granting a preliminary injunction to a health analytics company alleging tortious interference against an electronic health records (EHR) company that the analytics company says restricted its access to EHR of nursing home residents to monitor their health trends.
April 23, 2025
Partial Dismissal Issued In Yelp Antitrust Suit Against Google For ‘Stealing’ Info

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal magistrate judge on April 22 granted Google LLC’s request for consideration of documents incorporated by reference and granted in part and denied in part with leave to amend Google’s motion to dismiss in a California unfair competition law (UCL) and Sherman Act antitrust suit against Google by Yelp Inc. for “numerous anti-competitive practices, including stealing information from Yelp’s website and passing it off as Google’s own,” finding that “Yelp has sufficiently alleged monopoly power” but that tying of local search services to general search services is time-barred.
April 23, 2025
FTC Sues Uber Over Alleged Violations Of FTC Act By Recurring Subscription Service

SAN FRANCISCO — The Federal Trade Commission sued Uber Technologies Inc. and Uber USA LLC (collectively, Uber), a provider of ride-hailing and food delivery services, in a California federal court, alleging that Uber violated the FTC Act and the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (ROSCA) related to its Uber One delivery subscription service, alleging in part that Uber “failed to provide a simple method to cancel Uber One.”
April 22, 2025
Judge Allows Bulk Of Roblox’s Claims Against Third-Party ‘Gambling’ Developer

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted in part and denied in part a third-party developer’s motion to dismiss cross-claims brought against it by Roblox Corp. in a putative class action filed by parents who say Roblox allowed their minor children to access gambling games through the Roblox platform, finding that the developer consented to Roblox’s terms of use and may have confused consumers by using “Blox” in its game’s name.
April 22, 2025
En Banc 9th Circuit Finds Jurisdiction Over Shopping App For Cookie Collecting

SAN FRANCISCO — The en banc Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 21 reversed a panel’s ruling and found that personal jurisdiction exists over putative class claims against a payment processing and shopping app accused of violating California privacy and unfair competition laws by concealing that it was using cookies to collect California consumers’ personal data for resale.
April 21, 2025
Judge Finds Google Liable For Sherman Act Violations In Ad Tech Antitrust Suit

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — After conducting a bench trial, a Virginia federal judge said Google LLC is liable for antitrust violations, finding that the U.S. government and 17 states proved that Google violated the Sherman Act by monopolizing the publisher ad server market and the ad exchange market and by unlawful tying.
April 21, 2025
5th Circuit Vacates Injunction That Halted Law Regulating Minors’ Internet Access

NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals vacated a lower court’s preliminary injunction sought by internet trade association NetChoice LLC that stopped the enforcement of a Mississippi statute seeking to regulate minors’ access to certain internet platforms by requiring parental consent, remanding for a factual analysis pursuant to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Moody v. NetChoice, LLC, “which reframed the analysis for facial challenges” and was decided after the issuance of the preliminary injunction.